


You're no blank page

by oanja



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Romance, rl kids as minor characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:19:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5190137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oanja/pseuds/oanja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: Novelist/film writer Claude has moved his writer's block to one of a pair of holiday cottages, in the hope that a change of scenery will get him writing again. He's initially not happy when divorced father Danny rents the cottage next door with his three teenage sons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're no blank page

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leofuller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leofuller/gifts).



> Leofuller gave me this prompt on last year's hockey holiday exchange. In the end, I ended up writing her a different fic when I realized this one was getting too long for me to finish in time, but now almost a year later it's finally finished. :D I veered a bit off the original prompt, but I think I got the gist of it...
> 
> This was supposed to be my hockey big bang fic, but I couldn't get it done by my posting date. So many thanks to the big bang mod who beta read this for me. All remaining mistakes are all mine.
> 
> Disclaimer: It's called fanfiction for a reason. If you personally know the people in this story don't read this.

Day 1

Claude is avoiding work again. He has fourteen tabs open about different kinds of summer camps, junior hockey, ice-fishing, a cooking site about making your own jam and a wiki article about Yukon and none of it is helping him put anything on a page.

When someone drives up to the house it makes Claude perk up, he’s willing to take any distraction at this point.

There are car doors being slammed and then a lot of yelling all of a sudden. Claude peers out the window. There’s a SUV parked right by the door and three teenagers are milling around it.

“Oh crap,” Claude says out loud and remembers the email he got from his cousin who owns the house he’s staying in. He really should have read it, because it seems he has managed to rent the other half to someone.

Claude is hiding out in a remote part of a ski resort, renting out half of a duplex. His cousin had originally promised nobody would rent the other half, but then again that had been in October when nobody is really looking to rent a cabin near a ski resort.

Two of the three boys are running around the car and it looks like the smaller one is holding a phone in his hand. The bigger kid is shouting and really red in the face. None of them are wearing coats and Claude wonders when they are going to get too cold for messing around like that.

The oldest kid is dragging a huge duffel out of the back and complaining loudly to his dad, or Claude hopes it’s his dad, so he doesn’t have to call the cops or anything like that.

There’s something familiar about the dad actually, but Claude can’t put his finger on it. He’s pretty short and has black hair that’s falling on his eyes. 

Claude shakes his head at all of them. Yeah he gets that cars are nice a cosy, but why hadn’t they put their coats back on before getting out of the car? It was -15 this morning when Claude last checked the weather app.

It takes his new neighbours a really long time to unpack the car, especially because once the boys go in, they don’t come back out to help their dad. Claude wonders where the mom is, maybe she’ll join them later.

Claude can hear the kids shouting on their side of the building and someone stomping up the stairs. It makes sense to Claude. He can remember being a moody teenager pretty well and he wouldn’t have been happy about being dragged to the middle of nowhere right before New Year either.

Still, this is not what he wanted when he escaped Ottawa, and his editor. The deadline for his new book is in two months and he hasn’t actually even finished a draft yet. It just hasn’t been happening lately. Claude is worried he’s lost his writing mojo after his last book made it to the bestseller list and made the whole series a success. It was freaky. He had to do signings and people wanted to interview him on TV, Claude didn’t know how to feel about all that.

First it had been fun, because recognition, and fame, and real money! Those were all great and Claude liked people saying nice things about him as much as the next dude, and he liked signing books for kids and talking about the characters and all that. Somehow it had started piling up though and there was less and less time to write. Not to mention that people kept asking him about what was going to happen in the next book and there were websites where people had their own theories and wow, some of those were really out there.

So here he was, hiding out in the Canadian Rockies, trying to get away from it all. New, loud neighbors hadn’t really been on the agenda.

Claude shuffles into the kitchen in his slippers and pokes at the fancy coffee maker until it gurgles into life. He might as well get something to eat now that he’s not even pretending to work anymore.

A door slams somewhere, but Claude ignores it manfully, checking if the milk is still okay to put in his cereal. He hasn’t made a grocery run to town in almost a week and he’s running low on most stuff.

The crash and the sound of breaking glass jolt Claude and he runs to the front room, where the floor around the TV is now covered in glass shards. There’s also a hockey puck lying in the middle of it all, an obvious explanation of what has happened.

Claude makes his way to it, picks it up and peeks outside. The middle sized kid is standing there with a hockey stick and offers Claude a weak wave.

“You missing something?” Claude asks mildly.

“Uh…” The kid says, before the door opens and the dad barrels out, followed by the rest of the brood.

“Carson, what did you do? We could hear the crash from inside. If you broke the rental, I’ll…” He seems to notice Claude and the window then.

“Hi,” Claude offers and tosses the puck out to Carson, who catches it reflexively and then hides it behind his back. Like that will help.

“I’m so sorry, I can’t believe something like this happened already. Carson, seriously we haven’t been here half an hour!” The last bit is obviously not directed at Claude anymore, so he moves away from the window. The draft is really cold and he’s only wearing his pyjamas. 

Now that the window is broken, he can hear the neighbours fight loud and clear, and Claude wonders what he’s supposed to do about this. The whole side of his cabin is going to freeze with a big window pane now in shatters. Not to mention that it’s a Saturday and Claude really doubts anyone who could fix this is working.

Claude closes the door to the second bedroom that he’s been using as an office, and takes the stairs two at a time and closes the doors to the master bedroom and the bathroom. At least those rooms can stay warm. Back downstairs Claude considers the curtains. How much insulation would they be? Maybe he needs to try and board the window up with something.

A door bangs again and Claude sighs. He’s beginning to doubt his neighbours ability to close doors in a civilized manner, but at least the shouting has stopped for the time being.

There’s a knock at the front door and Claude opens it to find the dad standing there, all sheepish looking, his face red from shouting and the cold. He has sharp features and something about him nags at Claude, like he should know him.

“I came to apologise for my son and to offer to pay for the window, of course. I don’t want you to get into trouble with the people who own this place just because Carson’s snapshot is as accurate as someone’s half his age. I’m Danny, and I really didn’t want to meet the neighbours like this,” Danny says and offers his hand to Claude.

Claude grins and shakes hands with Danny, “It’s okay, I mean the living room is turning into a fridge as we speak, but kids are kids. It’s not like he did that on purpose. I know the owner, so I’ll explain it to her when I call about getting the window fixed. I’m sure they can just send you the bill afterwards.”

Danny sighs and relaxes a bit. “Thank you for taking this so well. Is there anything I can do to help? Feel free to come over with everyone else you are staying with to our side if you get cold. I can’t believe this happened on our first day.”

“It’s just me, so at least I won’t be adding to the chaos by bringing more kids around. I might take you up on the offer though. I guess it’ll depend on how fast they can send someone over to fix things.” Claude says and shifts on his feet. He’s wearing slippers, but it’s already pretty cold and standing around with the door open isn’t helping things.

Danny seems to notice the same and he offers Claude a sardonic smile, “I won’t keep you longer, but I meant it, if there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to come over.”

“Thanks, I will,” Claude promises and closes the door.

He goes around all the closets and cabinets and does find a cardboard box he dismantles and then tapes over the broken window.

The phone call to his cousin who own the place doesn’t go as smoothly. Helene is not amused at all and lets Claude know it, but she does promise to get someone over as soon as possible to fix things.

Claude finishes cleaning up by vacuuming the broken glass. The room temperature is definitely much lower than it should be, but Claude doesn’t think he’ll freeze to death. He puts on another knitted sweater over his hoodie and takes his laptop upstairs.

For the rest of the night Claude can hear the occasional sound from his new neighbors, but it’s actually pretty nice, after all this time Claude has spent here alone. He gets two pages written too and sends the latest chapter to his editor just to stop her from bombarding him with emails.

 

Day 2

The familiar tune qqqof ‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy’ wake Claude up. He brings the phone up to his face and blinks blearily at the screen before answering. It’s Helene informing him that she managed to get someone to come over on Monday. Claude is pretty sure she actually wanted to make sure he hadn’t frozen to death during the night, even if she still acts all annoyed.

After the she hangs up on him, Claude makes a pit stop at the bathroom, which he regrets instantly. The upstairs landing feels freezing under Claude’s bare feet and as soon as he’s taken care of business he ducks back into his bedroom and adds on layers and layers of clothes.

Downstairs things are even worse, the living room is freezing and the kitchen isn’t much better as it shares a big arching doorway with the main room. Claude considers finding gloves as he fiddles with the coffee maker, desperate for something hot to drink.

By the sounds of things his neighbors are awake too. He can hear water running and people yet again stomping up and down the stairs. When Claude has his coffee he goes to the adjacent door at the bottom of the stairs and knocks on it.

It takes a while, but one of the kids comes open the door. “Maaaaan, how cold is it there?”

“Pretty nippy,” Claude says and steps on their side of the door before closing it.

“Is your dad here?”

The boy, who looks like a middle schooler is giving Claude a weird look even as he points towards the kitchen, “He’s making breakfast.”

Claude chooses to ignore the look and goes to find Danny. He’s cursing at the coffee maker, which makes Claude smirk. It’s the same kind Claude has and it had given him so much trouble the first time he used it, he’d actually needed to look up the instructions.

“Morning. I thought I’d drop by and tell you my cousin says someone will come by tomorrow to fix the window. I have to warn you, I think it’s going to cost you a pretty penny,” Claude says and offers Danny a lopsided smile.

Danny sighs, but seems to shrug the whole thing off with that gesture, “It’s not going to be the first window I have to pay for unfortunately. I think it comes with the territory when you encouraged your kids to play hockey.”

Claude laughs, “Sure, but how much do you actually have to encourage any Canadian kids to get into hockey?”

The smallest kid walks in then and answers, “We’re more American. We live in Jersey and only come up here for summers and some other vacations when dad drags us.”

Claude gives them both a questioning look, “Oh, sorry for assuming. I’m sure America is nice too.”

“You’ve never been?” The boy asks, scandalized.

Claude laughs, “I’ve been to Buffalo and Detroit a couple of times and Florida once.”

“Did you go watch hockey? I mean why else would you go to Buffalo?” The boy asks even as his dad speaks over him.

“Cameron, come on. You’ve lived in Buffalo, how is that nice to say about your old hometown?”

Cameron shrugs unconcerned, “I don’t really remember much about it and anyway the people who’ve lived somewhere have the strongest right to diss a place.”

He’d switched to English during the conversation and now it makes sense why his French had sounded a bit shaky. No wonder if he’s grown up in the States. Claude wonders what Danny does for a living that makes him move around so much. It really doesn’t help with that nagging thought that he should know Danny from somewhere.

Claude missed some banter between Danny and Cameron while he was musing and is jolted back to reality when Cameron walks out with a bowl of cereal and Danny asks him, “Do you want a refill? I finally figured out the coffee maker.”

“I’ll never say no to coffee,” Claude admits and offers his mug to Danny, who fills it before pouring himself a cup too.

“Caelan and Carson are still sleeping but I have to wake them up soon if they really want to spend all day at the slopes. They were most excited about that, even if selling the idea of them spending New Years away from their friends was pretty hard,” Danny explains and blows into his coffee before taking a sip. Claude tries not to notice but Danny’s pyjama bottoms are riding low and the jut of his hipbone is visible.

“And their mom?” Claude asks, he has to, he’s dying of curiosity. Especially because Danny’s not wearing a ring.

Danny grimaces, “We’ve been divorced for years now. She got the kids for Christmas this year, we make it work these days.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Claude says, even though he’s not. Even if Danny is super straight, at least Claude isn’t having dirty thoughts about a married man now. Not that he’s having dirty thoughts.

“What about you? Are you here for the skiing?” Danny asks and turns to take toast from the toaster as it pops.

Claude sits down at the breakfast bar as it seems obvious Danny’s not about to kick him out. It’s kind of a relief, he’s not in a hurry to go back into his freezing apartment.

“Not really, I’ve gone a few times. Mostly I just needed a change of scenery and my cousin lets me stay here for cheap,” Claude explains.

“Bad breakup?” Danny asks, his voice sympathetic.

Claude lets out a startled laugh, “No! I uh, I’m trying to write a book and it’s not going so well right now.”

“That sounds interesting,” Danny says, but doesn’t pry, which Claude appreciates.

“Like I said we’re driving through town on our way to the slopes, do you need anything from the stores?” Danny offers, like they’ve been neighbours for years instead of total strangers.

“Well I was thinking of driving down and spending my day in the coffee shop to be honest. It’s pretty cold on my side and I don’t think that will help me get any work done,” Claude says and finishes his coffee.

Danny nods, “We could give you a ride if you want? Let me apologise again about the window, I feel really bad for us driving you out of your home.”

Claude tries to wave away the apology, “Don’t worry about it, I mean it’ll get fixed tomorrow and my bedroom is warm so that’s really all I need. I wouldn’t say no to a drive though, I’ve never been a big fan of driving in winter if I’m honest.”

“Done and done. I’m going to go wake the boys up. It’ll take at least 45 minutes before they’re ready to leave, so feel free to hang out here if you want. Least I can do is offer you a warm place to stay,” Danny promises and squeezes Claude’s shoulder as he walks past.

Claude may or may not watch him walk away.

~*~

The drive to town is interesting to say the least. Danny had introduced the older boys to Danny and made Carson apologise to Claude even as the boys weaved in and out of the kitchen with food and dirty dishes.

Claude escapes to his own side to put on more clothes and to grab his laptop, phone and wallet. He’s not sure if it was a good idea to accept the ride after all. Even if he doesn’t like driving in snow at least he wouldn’t be dependent on someone else's schedule. Someone else, who happened to have three rambunctious teenagers in tow.

It would have been rude to back down at that point, so Claude climbs into the front seat, which Danny has reserved for him. The boys still seems pretty tired, especially Carson, but Claude remembers being that age and it had been pretty exhausting. Caelan is on his phone the whole ride and only Cameron seems excited to be here and he keeps up a steady conversation with his dad and Claude about what he wants to do on this vacation.

Danny follows Claude’s directions and parks the car on the opposite side of the street from Claude’s favourite coffee shop.

“Thanks again for the ride and have a fun day, just don’t come back with broken bones, okay?” Claude says as he climbs out of the car.

“Shotgun!” Carson hollers and jumps out of his seat and almost dumps into Claude in his hurry to claim the now empty seat.

Danny rolls his eyes at Claude as the car erupts in an argument on whether it was fair of Carson to call shotgun or not.

“I have your number and I’ll give you a warning when we’re heading back. I hope you get work done,” Danny says before he drives off.

Claude smiles after the car before he jogs across the road and into the warm cafe. He really wants a cinnamon roll now.

It takes a while, but Claude does get into a writing groove. The cafe is pretty busy with tourists bustling in and out, but Claude was sneaky and claimed a table soon after his arrival and he hasn’t relinquished it yet. The noise of people chatting around him is actually pretty beneficial for his process and he bangs out ten pages between refills of coffee.

The need to take a bathroom break is looming over Claude by the time it’s close to the lunch time rush and he’s worried someone will take his table if he leaves, but the sudden arrival of Danny makes Claude forget about it momentarily.

Danny looks wind tousled and his cheeks are a rosy red. “Hi, I was wondering if you’d still be here. Want to go for lunch with me?”

Claude tries not to gape and hides his surprise by packing away his laptop.

“Sure yeah, I was getting a bit hungry. Where are the boys?” Claude asks and shrugs his coat back on.

Danny gives him a big smile, his brown eyes twinkling, “I couldn’t drag them away. There’s a restaurant at the slopes too but it was a bit too crowded for my tastes.”

“Awesome, lets go as soon as I come back from the head. I’ve literally had five cups of coffee since you left me here,” Claude explains and leaves Danny to keep an eye on his bag.

They walk along the main street and peek in the small shops. The whole street is geared towards servicing the tourists and they walk past three souvenir shops and two sporting goods stores on their way to the small Italian place Claude’s been a few times before.

The lunch crowd is pretty thick, so they have to wait for a bit for a table to clear, but it’s no great hardship. Danny asks him about the area and then somehow they end up comparing their childhood vacation stories to see who’s had the most terrible experience.

“No way, my hockey camp where everyone got food poisoning is definitely worse than your wedding story, besides do weddings even count as vacations?” Claude asks. They’re interrupted then by the waiter who comes by to lead them to their table.

They order drinks and then Danny comes back to the topic, “I stayed in a hotel room with four of my cousins for three nights. It has to count.”

Danny makes an exaggerated shudder at the memory and Claude laughs. It’s pretty incredible how much he already likes Danny, even though they barely know each other.

He’s about to refute Danny’s point when a dad with his teen-aged daughter stop at their table. The girl gives Danny a hopeful smile and after his dad prods him gently she asks, “Hi, I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch but could I take a photo with you?”

“Of course, it’s no problem,” Danny says and gets to his feet to take a photo with the girl. She’s almost as tall and him and they both smile widely for the phone her dad is holding.

Danny shakes hands with both of them, before they go back to their table, and sits down. He offers a sheepish smile at Claude, “I’m not really used to that anymore. Happens less and less these days.”

Claude feels like an idiot. No wonder Danny had looked so familiar, “You used to play for the Flyers, fuck I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you sooner.”

Danny laughs softly but he looks pleased, “I’ve been retired for a couple of years, it’s not that odd, especially if you don’t follow the NHL that closely.”

Claude shakes his head, “Still I should have known you. You’re close enough to a hometown hero in Ottawa.”

The food arrives soon after and Claude asks Danny a few questions about playing in the big league. He’s not planning on setting any future books in the NHL, but it’s still fun to hear some stories.

After they finish eating Danny walks Claude back to the cafe. “I think they boys will still have energy for for a few more hours of skiing, are you going to be okay here, or do you want me to take you back home first?”

Claude shakes his head, “Don’t worry about me, I actually got some work done before lunch, so maybe the cafe is good for my motivation. I hardly even wasted time on reddit.”

Danny laughs with Claude, which is nice of him because Claude knows he wasn’t being particularly funny. Danny’s eyes crinkle when he’s laughing, which makes him even more handsome in Claude’s eyes. He feels that flutter in his chest when Danny slaps him on the shoulder and then lets his hand slide down Claude’s arm, which makes the gesture feel less bro-y and more like flirting.

“You have my number, text or call if you get bored, maybe that will be a good enough reason to drag the boys away a bit sooner. I had forgotten how much hard work skiing is. I bet my legs are going to kill me tomorrow,” Danny says.

“I’d offer to massage them for you, but I would have no idea what I was doing, so maybe not. I wouldn’t want to mangle you any further,” Claude offers.

Claude’s pretty sure he’s not imagining the glint of interest in Danny’s eyes when he says, “It’s the thought that counts though.”

When Danny is gone, Claude marches back to the cafe and finds the lunch rush has abated and he can claim a table with no trouble. 

It’s hard to get back to writing though as he thought keep circling back to Danny and everything he said. Claude knows himself well enough to know he has a type and Danny fits it perfectly. The problem is whether it would be a good idea to take it any further, even flirting might be too much, after all Claude isn’t sure if Danny’s even interested. Then there are the kids and the fact that Danny will be gone in a few days.

Claude sighs and goes to order more decaf tea, so the barista will stop giving him the stink-eye for loitering.

By the time Danny calls him and says they’re on their way, Claude has managed to draft out a few more scenes so he sends those to his editor, who’s great with early feedback and packs up his stuff.

It’s getting dark outside and Claude tightens his scarf around his neck as he waits for Danny’s car. Luckily he timed it pretty well, so when Danny pulls over Claude can still feel all his toes and fingers.

“Hey guys, did you have a good time?” Claude asks as he climbs inside and fights with his seat-belt for a few seconds. 

“Yep, it was fun. Dad fell a million times though,” Cameron answers.

Claude smiles at him gratefully because the older boys both ignored him. “That sounds painful.”

Danny chuckles, “He’s exaggerating, I only fell twice and that was more than enough. I’m not going down that slope again.”

“Too advanced for you, old man,” Carson chirps even though his nose is still buried in his phone.

“Yeah yeah, keep talking like that and I won’t stop for burgers after all,” Danny threatens calmly, which elicits protests from the other two.

Danny doesn’t act on his threat but stops at the drive-through and they leave with bags and bags of burgers, fries and chicken nuggets. The greasy smell is tempting and for the rest of the drive the boys whine how hungry they are.

“No eating in the rental, I don’t want to keep repeating this okay. You’ve done enough damage to our own cars and I don’t want to pay for ketchup or grease stains on the seats. You can wait for a few minutes,” Danny says 

“Everything will get cold,” Caelan complains.

“We can be careful,” Carson says.

“Aaaah! I’m going to die of hunger,” Cameron moans over everyone and Claude has to hide a smile behind his hand.

Danny notices it anyway and gives Claude a conspiratorial look and then rolls his eyes at the melodramatics of his kids.

Somehow they make it back to the cabin without anyone perishing from malnutrition, but the boys bolt out the car with the food when Danny has barely even taken the key out of the ignition.

“I think they took your food too, do you want to join us for dinner?” Danny asks.

Claude nods and follows Danny inside. The boys have spread the haul on the dinner table and there are already burger wrappers everywhere. 

Danny sighs at the sight and presses a hand on Claude’s lower back as he scoots past him to go nag his boys to use napkins. The shiver of interest Claude got from the touch seems a bit inappropriate given the context, so Claude joins in, sitting down and trying to figure out which burger was originally meant for him.

“So, are you the guys who writes the ‘Smiths Falls Comets’ books?” Cameron asks, seemingly taking a break from inhaling his weight in fries.

Claude’s head pops up in a hurry, somehow he hadn’t thought that this might happen, even when Cameron is right in the target age group for his books.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Claude says and offers Cameron a smile. Suddenly he’s pretty nervous, because what if Cameron hates his books? Not that it should matter, even if he likes their dad a bit.

“Cool. I wish I had one with me, I would have asked you to sign it.” Cameron says and seems to weigh something in his mind before he continues, “So is Joner going to get drafted to the OHL or not?”

Claude laughs out of relief and then throws a fry at Cameron. “I’m not going to tell you, you’d post it online somewhere and the whole thing would be spoiled then.”

Cameron shrugs, “I had to ask.”

“What was that?” Danny asks, having heard the tail end of the conversation. He had gone to get more coke out of the fridge and offers it to Caelan before he sits back down next to Cameron.

Carson beats Cameron to the answer, “Those books Cameron likes, Claude writes them.”

That impresses Claude and he makes a mental note to remember how Carson is still paying attention to his surroundings even while seemingly engrossed with his phone.

“Oh, I’ve heard parts of them as audio books when I drive Cameron around. They’re really good,” Danny says and Claude tries not to preen.

“You said, you’re just glad Cameron does something else besides plays video games,” Carson interjects.

“I say a lot of things, besides it’s true. You should read more too,” Danny says.

“I have to read so much for school already, why would I read more in my free time,” Carson says with a tone that implies his dad has lost his last marble.

Danny gives Claude a look that seems to say ‘look what I have to deal with’ and Claude tries not to laugh.

Cameron isn’t done asking questions though, so Claude finds himself going through the plots of the first two books with Cameron, straining his brain to remember why he decided to do what when Cameron asks him.

“So I read somewhere that you used to play too, is that true?” Cameron asks him. It’s just the three of them left, Carson and Caelan left them as soon as they finished eating and Claude can hear the TV in the livingroom.

Danny is gathering up the trash, but at this question he pauses and looks at Claude with interest, “Oh I didn’t know that.”

“Just until Bantam. I realized I had other interests too and hockey got sort of secondary,” Claude explains.

“So you didn’t have a tragic injury like Coach T? That’s one theory the fans have, that the Coach character is based on you,” Cameron says and his eyes are gleaming with interest. Claude is less and less sure what he says here will stay between them and not end up on the internet.

That worry makes him weigh his answer a bit more carefully, “No, I didn’t stop playing because of an injury and Coach T is actually loosely based on a coach I had, minus the tragic backstory.”

“Oh,” Cameron deflates a bit with that.

“Cam, do you still want to watch the game?” Carson shouts from the living room.

“Shi--shoot, yeah!” Cameron says, censoring himself in the last moment and dashes out.

“Sorry about the grilling he gave you, Cameron gets really passionate about the things he cares about. I think it runs in the family,” Danny says and takes the last haul of trash into the kitchen.

“It’s great to talk with people about my books, makes it feel more worthwhile to write them, knowing someone likes to read them,” Claude says and gets to his feet.

“Gonna head home? I’ll walk you,” Danny says and follows him into the hallway. They pause at the adjacent door and suddenly Claude feels like this is an end of a date, even though that seems rather absurd.

“Can I ask why you quit hockey? It sounded like there’s more to it than what you told Cameron.” Danny asks.

Claude doesn’t usually like to go into it, but right now it actually works in his favor, because these things can be sort of awkward anyway, “I realized I was gay.”

Danny’s eyebrows rise in surprise, “Did you teammates give you a hard time because of it?”

“No. But I didn’t give them the chance to. I didn’t tell the team, just the guys I was friends with outside of hockey too. I talked about it with my parents and we all agreed that I didn’t want to hide or pretend to be something I wasn’t for hockey,” Claude explains, feeling the old stab of anger for his fifteen year old self’s sake.

“I, well to be honest with you, I can understand why you chose to do that. I’m bi and I never really felt okay about telling anyone about it while I was still playing and it took me a really long time to even admit it to myself,” Danny says and they lock eyes. 

For a second Claude imagines what could have been. What if he hadn’t stopped playing? He’d been the best player in his team, in his league even, he might have made it. What if he’d been on the same team with Danny and played with him?

Claude shakes himself mentally, it’s stupid to think like that, what’s done is done. “Thanks for trusting me with this. It’s not like I’m going to tell anyone, but still.”

“It seemed fair after what you told me,” Danny says with a shrug.

“Good night and thanks for dinner,” Claude says a bit awkwardly and opens the door. He’s immediately hit with a cold breeze and closes the door again quickly.

“Good reminder to put my coat back on,” he jokes and goes to pick up his winter gear before braving the door again.

Danny gives him an apologetic look, “I’m really sorry about the window.”

“Stop saying that already, jeez. It’s going to get fixed tomorrow and then we can all laugh about it. At least this way we got to know each other, right?” Claude asks.

“That’s true and I don’t regret meeting you at all,” Danny says with a smile.

Claude has trouble finding the door handle this time and it’s not because he’s wearing his mittens.

“Smooth, Giroux, smooth,” Claude mutters under his breath as he stomps his way upstairs. He’s glad the heating seems to still be working fine in the bedroom, so he can shed a few layers.

It’s not that late yet, so Claude climbs into bed and opens his laptop. At least the cabin has wifi, so he’s not bored to death, trapped in his bedroom like this. He does feel a bit guilty about his next Google search though, but how could he not look Danny up?

 

Day 3

Someone is ringing the doorbell downstairs. Claude pokes his head out from under the covers and gropes for his phone. It’s barely nine in the morning and Claude groans as he gets up.

“Morning,” Danny says, his grin wide and happy when Claude makes it to the door.

“Why do you look so happy, it’s too early to be up,” Claude protests and wraps his arms around himself. It’s still really cold downstairs even though from Danny’s clothes it seems the temperature has risen close to zero.

“I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come play street hockey with us? We promise not to break any more windows,” Danny says and Claude has to laugh at that.

“Fine, give me a few minutes,” Claude says and closes the door on Danny’s face.

The weather really has gotten nice again, Claude has to admit when he emerges from the house. The sun is shining, which would usually mean cold weather, but it’s barely nippy. Claude has barely enough time to dodge a snowball thrown at him, which helps shed the last shreds of sleep from his system.

“Hey, what was that about?” Claude protests, but Danny’s boys just laugh at him before going back to throwing snowballs at each other.

Danny comes out then, stuffing his phone into his pocket and holding hockey sticks under his other arm. He smiles at Claude and makes a beeline towards him. “Here, have a stick. I can’t believe I got talked into bringing these with us, skates too, but there hasn’t been a chance to find a rink or a pond yet.”

Claude takes the offered stick and for a moment they just watch as Carson and Cameron gang up on Caelan and pepper him with snow. 

“I should break that up before Caelan get’s really angry. He can sulk for ages if he puts his mind to it and is willing to ruin everyone’s day if he’s unhappy.” Danny says and walks up to the boys.

“Okay, do you want to play or not? I’ll be the goalie and you can go two on two,” Danny says and distributes the rest of the sticks.

Cameron sidles up to Claude. “So we can be a team, right? I won’t even mind if you suck.”

Claude fistpumps Cameron. “Thanks buddy. I might be pretty rusty, I’m not going to lie.”

While Cameron spills the dirt on his brothers usual tactics when it comes to road hockey, Danny and Carson have gone around the driveway making lines in the snow with their sticks to mark the playing area and where the ‘goal’ is.

“No shooting the ball towards the house either, or I’m docking the next window out of your allowances,” Danny says seriously before he takes his place at the goal.

Carson gives his dad a sheepish smile. Caelan takes the faceoff with Claude, the ball between them. “On three?” Claude asks.

“Yep,” Caelan says and then proceeds to take the ball away at two. Claude thinks he should have listened to Cameron when he told Claude that his brothers are horrible cheaters.

Claude’s rusty, he does play pick-up hockey sometimes, but it’s been ages since he had to fight this ferociously for the puck, or the ball as it is in this case. Danny keeps chirping him too and even Cameron who’s supposed to be on his side keeps laughing at him and shouting directions that don’t make any sense.

The final nail the coffin comes when Caelan checks him just right to make Claude lose his balance and fall face first into the snowbank.

“Oh boy, are you okay Claude?” Danny asks him, but Claude can hear the laughter in his voice.

Claude get’s back to his feet and brushes snow off of him. It feels like his other shoe is filled though and his sock is already getting soggy. “I give up, you guys are too much for me.”

Danny beats some snow from Claude’s chest and then pats him there more gently, “I should maybe have warned you better. It tends to get pretty cutthroat when we play.”

“Don’t just throw your sticks away, take them back inside and get your stuff ready. Don’t start watching TV,” Danny shouts over Claude’s shoulder and Claude turns around too to see the boys pick up their sticks on their way back inside.

Danny turns back to him and smiles. The expression lights up his face every time and makes him look mischievous. It’s a really good look as far as Claude is concerned and he grins back automatically.

“We’re going on a snowmobile safari. I really hope I won’t regret it later. Especially because Cameron’s too young to drive one by himself, so he’s bound to bitch about that. You should wish me luck,” Danny says and reaches up to brush Claude’s hair.

“There was some snow,” Danny explains vaguely when he sees Claude’s questioning look.

“Oh okay, but anyway, I hope you all come back in one piece. I’m going to try get another chapter started,” Claude says, trying not to read anything into Danny’s gesture. Some people are just handsy and tactile by nature, it didn’t automatically mean they wanted to bang you.

They walk back to the cabin together and pause at the stairs. Claude feels silly again, like a teenager after a date, desperate to keep things going but unsure about what to do. He hasn’t missed that feeling at all.

“At least someone should come by today to fix the window, so that’s some excitement for my day too. I know it’s not quite a snowmobile safari though,” Claude jokes lamely.

Danny looks over at the broken window and back at Claude again, “I’m really glad that’s going to be taken care off. I have to say I’ve been feeling really bad for you in the cold. Especially last night.”

“You were thinking about me last night? You shouldn’t have,” Claude goes for a teasing tone, even though the thought of the possibility pleases him more than a little

Danny shoves Claude gently on the arm and climbs the stairs up to his door. “See if I do anything nice for you again, if this is how my concern is mocked.”

Claude laughs. “It’s a harsh world, Briere, you should know that by now.”

Danny makes an exaggerated hurt face before the smile breaks through again. “Have a good day Claude”

“You too, have fun,” Claude says and takes his own stairs up two at a time. Even the soggy wet sock can’t bring his mood down now.

The window repairman comes by before lunchtime and Claude lets him in with profuse thanks before he escapes back to the warmth of his bedroom. He only manages to write two pages but he sends them along with some outline revisions.

The contractor had been well prepared with the window measurements, so he’s able to fix the broken pane in one go and soon enough Claude has his house back. Once the guy clears out with Claude’s profuse thanks he surveys the living room.

It’s still too cold to hang out downstairs but at least now Claude can turn on the heating again and not worry about an enormous heating bill. He makes grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and then dicks around online for a couple of hours.

When Danny’s car drives up to the house around five, Claude’s head perks up so fast that he should feel embarrassed.

Manfully Claude resists the urge to go out to meet the Brieres and instead he just queues some Brooklyn 99 on Netflix. He can hear the boys yelling something indistinctly through the wall and something glass break. It all makes him smile, and he can imagine the exasperated look on Danny’s face.

Later, Claude’s rummaging for a beer from the fridge when he hears a knock on the adjoining door. He glances at the clock and notes that it’s almost ten before he goes to get the door.

Danny’s eyes look soft and tired and the way he smiles up at Claude makes something ache in Claude’s chest. Claude knows this is bad. It’s gone from, ‘wow I want to bang this guy’ to ‘wow I want to date this guy’ so fast it’s scaring him. Especially because Danny and his kids are leaving in a few days and Claude’s not sure he’ll ever get to see Danny again.

“What’s up?” Claude asks.

“I really need some adult company, and no, Caelan doesn’t count, even though he’d murder me if he heard me say that.” Danny says and steps over to Claude’s side of the house.

“I guess the day was a success then?” Claude asks and offers his untouched beer to Danny.

Danny looks like he’s going to say no to the offer, but then he rolls his shoulders and takes the bottle from Claude’s hand. Claude’s pretty sure he doesn’t just imagine the way Danny’s hand lingers over his fingers.

“It was fine and I made them go to bed early. I’m sure they’re still on their phones, but at least it’s quiet. I always forget how hard it is to do this stuff alone. Sylvie- my ex, she makes it look so easy.” Danny mutters and walks over to the couch.

Claude goes to get another beer for himself and joins Danny, who hasn’t turned the tv on and is just nursing his beer.

“I’m sure the boys appreciate all you do for them?” Claude offers, unsure how to make Danny feel better.

Danny takes a long sip from his bottle and shakes his head, “Didn’t come here to talk about my boys or get all maudlin on you. Fuck, okay. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I got the impression that you’re into me?”

Claude’s heart skips a beat and he puts his beer on the coffee table carefully. “I guess I was pretty easy to read then, yeah I’d tap that,” he says, trying to make light of the situation.

Danny stares at him, his eyes almost black in the dim light, the intensity new and exciting. Claude licks his lips and Danny follows the path of Claude’s tongue with his eyes.

“I’m really fucking glad to hear that,” Danny says and leans in close enough to kiss Claude.

They make out on the couch for what feels like an eternity to Claude, but when Claude feel like he’s going to die if he doesn’t get to come, he pulls away from Danny. “I have a perfectly nice bed upstairs.”

“Yeah, good thinking,” Danny says and follows Claude to his bedroom.

“Get naked and I’ll blow you,” Claude offers, Danny and starts taking off his own clothes, not worried that Danny won’t take him up on his offer.

Claude has barely gotten his mouth on Danny’s dick, when Danny pulls his hair almost too hard. “Fuck, Claude, I’m not gonna last.”

Claude looks up at Danny, “I think the whole point is that we both get off. No need to make this into a marathon, I don’t mind. It’s hot to know you’re this easy for me.”

Danny blushes an even deeper shade of red, but eases his death grip on Claude. “Okay, yeah.”

So Claude blows Danny’s mind as well as his cock, and tries not to look too smug while Danny tries to catch his breath.

“Fine, hot shot, your turn then,” Danny says, but doesn’t make a move from where he’s laying on his back.

“A bit hard to do if you’re not even going to sit up,” Claude complains.

“Not really, come up here and fuck my mouth,” Danny suggests and then laughs at Claude when the mental image of fucking Danny’s face pretty much fries Claude’s brain.

“Come on then, let's see how long your stamina lasts,” Danny taunts him.

“I thought this wasn’t a competition,” Claude grumbles even as he straddles Danny’s shoulders to get close enough. He has a bad feeling that he’s not going to last, fuck looking down at Danny from this angle is already doing things to him and Claude’s not sure if he can bear watch himself fuck Danny’s mouth without coming instantly.

“It’s not, but I’m going to win anyway,” Danny says and moves his hands to Claude’s ass and pulls him closer and gets his lips around Claude’s cock head.

~*~

Claude comes out of the bathroom and finds Danny pulling his pants back on. “I have to go back in case one of the boys needs me.”

Claude nods. It makes sense, even a teenager might freak out if they woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t find their dad anywhere. It doesn’t make it feel any better though, Claude feels like he got used somehow. It makes Claude feel irritated, with himself and with Danny, because for fucks sake, it’s not like Claude said no, or that Danny promised forever to him. He’s had his fair share of no strings attached booty calls himself and it’s stupid to feel hurt now.

“See you tomorrow?” Danny asks and Claude nods, trying to not show any of his mixed emotions to him.

Danny brushes his hand across Claude’s chest on his way past him and Claude shivers at the touch. Danny’s fingers were cold. He listens Danny’s footsteps fade as he goes down the stairs and climbs into bed, trying to ignore the smell of sex that wafts out from between the sheets.

 

Day 4

To Claude’s surprise Danny does actually come see him the next day. Bright and early too. “You want a ride into town?” Danny asks.

Claude finds himself accepting the offer, even though he doesn’t really need to go into town. Caelan calls shotgun and Claude climbs to the back with Carson and Cameron. Carson ignores him, but he and Cameron have a conversation about different kinds of dogs they like. Claude has a feeling this is part of some kind of ongoing campaign of Cameron’s where he’s lobbying for a dog.

In the front Danny and Caelan seem to be having a veiled argument about college and Claude is much happier to talk about dogs if he’s honest.

Once they get into town Danny drops him off on the main street. “Thanks for the ride,” Claude says and watches Danny drive off.

“I’m such an idiot,” Claude tells himself and walks to Tim Hortons. He deserves some doughnuts and coffee. Maybe it will make him feel better. It doesn’t really, but Claude manages to snag a table when a mom leaves with her toddler and makes himself answer his emails.

His mom has sent one asking if Claude is finished with his hermit act and when he’s coming back to Ottawa. She’s also attached photos from Christmas and pointedly doesn’t make any comments about how he wasn’t there.

Claude clicks through then and looks at the smiling faces of his relatives and sighs. Maybe it is time to go back home. He has a feeling that he won’t like the cabin as much after Danny leaves.

The cafe starts to get busier and the staff starts to give Claude dirty looks, so he packs up his laptop and takes to the streets again. It’s only a ten minute walk to the library and it’s nice and quiet inside.

Here Claude doesn’t have to fight for table space and he finds the atmosphere conductive to writing. When his phone chimes to notify him of a text, it jolts him out of the best flow he’s managed with this book.

Claude glares at the screen, but swipes the lockscreen open and finds that Danny has sent him a selfie. He’s grinning at Claude with the mountains bright and shining in the sunlight behind him. ‘You should have come skiing with us’ the next text says, but Claude is stuck staring at Danny’s smiling face. He’s facing the sun, so he’s squinting, the crows feet deep in the corners of his eyes, his cheeks dimpled.

“Fuck,” Claude mutters and gets a dirty look from an old man sitting two tables over. Claude rolls his eyes at the man and puts his phone away. Then he picks it back up.

‘I was never any good at that’ then Claude hesitates for a moment but takes a selfie to send back to Danny.

The bookcases make it obvious where he is. ‘Getting some work done’

‘Hipster’ comes the answer back from Danny.

‘Libraries have nothing to do with hipsters!’ Claude replies.

‘You are wearing a flannel shirt, your hair is on a manbun, I can see your mac on the table. You are only missing hipster glasses.’ Danny writes back.

‘Go back to skiing’ Claude writes because he doesn’t have a better retort. He’s definitely not going to tell Danny that he actually owns a pair of ‘hipster glasses’ he wears sometimes even though there’s nothing wrong with his eyesight.

‘We’ll be done in a few hours. What’s the address of the library, we’ll pick you up there?’

Claude has to google the address before he can send it to Danny and afterwards there’s no more messages. Claude sighs, he’s not going to get any more writing done now. Instead he goes on a shameful Youtube spiral of Danny’s highlights that he watches on mute.

When Danny and the boys come pick him up, Claude mentions his now pretty dire need to get some groceries.

“We can do that. I’m sure you guys can think of something to buy,” Danny directs the last bit to the backseat.

Before anybody has a chance to disperse into the supermarket Danny gives each boy ten bucks. “Meet you at the car in thirty minutes, okay? I don’t want to have to call after each of you this time.” 

Caelan makes a face. “Ten bucks, seriously dad? You’re a millionaire.”

Danny gives Claude an apologetic and slightly embarrassed look before answering. “Yes, but you don’t need to buy more than ten dollars worth of junk food.”

“I don’t know what’s going on with Caelan. I feel like I’ve been arguing with him the whole time we’ve been here.” Danny says once they’re alone and grabs a basket.

“I’m sure it’ll blow over,” Claude says and leads Danny to the bread aisle. He really wants toast.

Danny looks dubious but doesn’t argue about it. Instead they make it through the store in good time and Claude’s pretty sure he remembered to get most of the things he needed.

They’re almost at the check-out when Danny stops Claude with a hand on his arm and asks him with a sheepish smile. “This is an awkward question, but do you still want to sleep with me? Because if the answer is yes, I need to buy some condoms. I didn’t think getting laid was going to be an option on this vacation.”

Claude laughs, surprised and relieved to hear Danny didn’t mean last night to be a one off. “Sure, I’ll go buy some, you can go check-out already.”

“Thanks,” Danny says, and rests his hand on Claude’s hip for a fleeting moment before making his way to the shortest queue. 

Claude manages to buy both condoms and lube-- he’s an optimistic guy after all, and pay for his things without seeing any of Danny’s boys. Claude feels like he dodged a bullet there.

 

The drive back to the cabin is less eventful as Cameron used his money to buy a gaming magazine and a huge bag of candy, so he’s silent for once. Claude doesn’t know what the others bought as both Carson and Caelan are on their phones again. Danny seems happy with the quiet as he just turns the volume up a bit on the country station they’re listening to and taps his fingers against the steering wheel.

Claude may or may not stare at those fingers with keen interest.

It’s pretty late when Danny comes over, but Claude doesn’t mind. He ate dinner and then went to take a shower, wanting to be prepared for anything when Danny came over. He’d ended up fingering himself under the hot spray of water, biting his lip as he thought about Danny being there with him, Danny’s fingers inside him, whispering dirty things in his ear.

It had taken all of Claude’s self control not to finish right there and then. It was worth it though, to push himself so close to the edge as it made the wait all the more delicious, feeling that low level hum of arousal and frustration.

So when Danny knocks on the door, Claude wastes no time in yanking him inside and pushing him against the wall before claiming his mouth in a kiss. Danny’s muffled yelp turned into a moan and he was quick to pull Claude even closer to him by the hips.

Claude was more than happy with his development and used his leverage to grind against Danny, who pushes his hands under the waistband of Claude’s sweatpants. “This okay?”

“Yeah, fuck, keep going,” Claude encourages him and bites Danny’s earlobe before kissing his way down Danny’s neck.

He has to stop and pant when Danny slides his hand down the cleft of Claude’s asscheeks, rubbing his finger over his hole. Danny makes a surprised noise when his finger dips inside easily and Claude laughs a bit breathlessly. “I fingered myself in the shower. Do you want to fuck me?”

“Yes, fuck Claude I would have to be mad to say no to that,” Danny says and pulls Claude in for a kiss, his fingers strong on the back of Claude’s neck. Claude shivers with the anticipation and pushes against Danny’s finger, taking it a bit deeper.

Reluctantly Claude pulls away after a bit, “Upstairs, come on. I don’t want to wait a minute longer.”

Danny looks a bit dazed and swallows visibly even as he nods. “Of course, Claude, fuck, just look at you.”

Claude grins at Danny and takes him by the hand and leads him towards his bedroom. “Sex addled is a good look on you Danny.”

Danny laughs and slaps Claude on the ass. “Shut up.”

“Nope,” Claude says, pulling his shirt over his head.

“You make a strong argument,” Danny’s voice sounds a bit hoarse and Claude preens under his gaze, but doesn’t try for anything fancy as the sheds the rest of his clothes. He’s had guys laugh at him when he tried for anything resembling strip tease. He still got laid, but he’s not going for that reaction this time.

When Claude’s naked he crawls on the bed and looks over his shoulder at Danny, who’s frozen in place with his shirt hanging from one hand. “You plan on joining me any time soon?”

Danny gets a move on, so Claude reaches for the lube he stashed under a pillow and starts prepping himself.

“Fuck, Claude you look amazing,” Danny says and Claude feels the mattress dip as Danny climbs on the bed. He runs his hands up Claude’s shins and thighs, coming to rest right where his glutes start. Claude widens his stance a bit more and pushes a third finger in. Some other time he’d love to let Danny do this, but right now he wants speed and for that his own fingers work best.

Danny uses his thumbs to pull his cheeks apart more and Claude would blush, if he wasn’t already red faced from arousal. Knowing Danny is looking at him like this makes him feel vulnerable but it also presses so many of his buttons.

“Okay, good to go,” Claude says, pulls his fingers out and wipes his fingers on the edge of the sheet.

“Oh god, Claude,” Danny moans as he presses inside and Claude has to close his eyes for a second just to breathe. Fuck, it’s been too long since he had this. Claude sometimes forgets how much he likes getting fucked and it always blows him away when he does it again.

Danny’s a great lay too, he seems to read Claude and when he wants Danny to go faster, or just grind it out deep and slow.

“Right there, fuck, so good,” Claude gasps out loud when Danny hits his prostate and it doesn’t take him very long to come after that. Danny has his hand around Claude’s cock and Claude doesn’t know what to do, he wants to fuck into Danny’s hand the way Danny’s fucking him right then is so good he doesn’t want to ruin the rhythm, so he lets Danny set the pace and it’s so worth it. Claude doesn’t remember the last time when he came that hard.

~*~

Claude is prepared to see Danny getting ready to leave this time, but to his delight Danny’s still in bed waiting for him. Claude raises to covers and snuggles under them and he can’t help if the smile he gives Danny is a bit dopy.

“So that was awesome,” Claude says and brushes an errant strand of hair away from his face.

“Claude,” Danny says, the the tone of his voice makes Claude tense. It’s the ‘we need to talk’ voice.

“Our flight home is tomorrow,” Danny continues and at least he looks unhappy about it.

Claude sighs. “You had to ruin the afterglow.”

Danny offers him a weak smile, “Sorry. I feel, I don’t know, like things are unfinished between us. Maybe that’s a stupid thing to say. I don’t want to sound like a creep.”

“No, you don’t. I feel the same way. It was so easy to get to know you, to like you. Like we’d known each other for ages already.” Claude hurries to say when Danny starts to look unsure about himself.

“I just moved back to Philly too, we’re talking about a job for me in the front office. It’s home for me down there.” Danny says, like he needs to explain anything to Claude. He doesn’t need to, but he still appreciates it.

They lie there in silence for a while, Claude just looking at Danny, trying to commit him to memory. The what could have beens.

“Maybe it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. You have to think about your kids first and anyway, maybe we would have gotten sick of each other in weeks if we had the chance to date.” Claude says, trying to convince himself as much as Danny.

“Maybe,” Danny says but he sounds dubious.

“I have to…” Danny starts

“Go. I know,” Claude interrupts him and watches as Danny gets up and gets dressed. He thinks how easily he could fall in love with this man and the thought scares him. Maybe it is for the better that he’ll be gone tomorrow.

Before he leaves, Danny leans down to kiss Claude and maybe he clings on a bit too long, but Claude can’t help but to think this is the last kiss he’ll have and he wants… well he wants a lot of things.

 

Day 5

Claude wakes up slowly. He’s turned away from the window, but the room is bright so he knows he must have forgotten to close the blinds last night. When he stumbles out of the bathroom he notices there are a few messages on his phone.

Both texts are from Danny.

‘I think you are still sleeping, but if not come have breakfast with us’

The second one says, ‘Gotta get going now. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to spend time with you. Keep in touch’

“Fuck,” Claude curses and takes the stairs down two at a time. It’s no use though. The SUV is gone from the drive and Claude has to accept the fact that he slept through Danny leaving. He looks at his phone again, Danny hadn’t tried to call. Does that mean something, was he hoping the text alert wouldn’t wake Claude up but his phone ringing would?

“I’m being paranoid, get it together Giroux,” Claude tells himself and types up a short message in return

‘Sorry I slept through your messages. Tell the boys bye for me. Have a safe flight.’

It’s hard not to mope around for the rest of the day and Claude doesn’t even try very hard. Instead he watches a few Murdoch mysteries reruns and tries to ignore the sounds of the cleaning lady who arrives after noon and must be busily wiping away all traces that the Brieres were ever in the cabin at all.

“Fuck it,” Claude mutters that evening, after a few beers and pulls his laptop to him. After a few minutes he has bought plane tickets home for next Wednesday.

 

Epilogue

It had honestly taken Claude by surprise when Danny had texted him the day after they left. At first Claude hadn’t been sure if it was a good idea to keep texting Danny or not, but it seemed petty to stop when he didn’t have a good reason to and in a few days it had become a habit he didn’t want to give up.

Claude goes home to his flat in Ottawa and spends the first few days getting his shit in order again. Then he has to go home to his parents house and his mom insists he stay for the weekend and plies him with all of his favourite foods, so it’s not much of a hardship.

When he get’s back, Claude really has to start concentrating on finishing the first draft of his book, so that keeps him busy for the next few months. Suddenly it’s February and Danny, who has been dropping more and more obvious hints for weeks now, just straight up offers to fly him to Philly for Valentine's day.

“Are you out of your mind, Briere?” Claude says and makes a face at Danny. They’re skyping again and Claude doesn’t remember when that became a thing they do on the regular.

“Maybe, come anyway?” Danny’s grinning at him, unrepentant, and fuck it’s tempting.

“Philly in February? I bet it’s even worse than Ottawa at this time of year.”

“Well technically I live in Haddonfield” Danny says.

“Like that’s any better? You’re inviting me to the suburbs,” Claude doesn’t know why he’s arguing about this. He wants to go, wants to see Danny again, touch him, be with him.

“I’m gonna keep asking,” Danny says and that makes up Claude’s mind.

“Okay, if I come how is this gonna work?” Claude asks.

Danny does the finger guns at him, like the dork he is, so Claude has to laugh at him, even while his heart is doing that stupid stuttery thing again.

“It depends on how long you can stay, but I would like to keep you for myself for a few days and then we could go out with the boys. I would like to tell them we’re dating,” Danny says, suddenly serious.

“Shit! Seriously?” Claude blurts out.

“Yeah. They know we’ve kept in touch, I’m pretty sure they suspect something. Contrary to the way they act sometimes, they’re not at all stupid.” Danny says.

“Wow, okay. I mean, I’m sure you know I’m all for that. I don’t think I would have put up with all this long distance stuff otherwise, but Danny, we live in different fucking countries. How is this ever going to work?” Claude says.

Danny shrugs, “It’s worked so far, hasn’t it? And it doesn’t have to be like this forever. Circumstances change.”

Claude narrows his eyes, “You just got a new job, so it’s not like you’re going to be moving anywhere. You want me to move to the States?”

“Well, your job does allow for it? But I don’t want to rush things, okay Claude? Just come visit me, we’ll see how this goes. I’ll fly you down here every weekend for the rest of our lives if it comes to that. I just want to see you again.” Danny says.

“Danny…” Claude trails off.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to spring any of this on you via Skype. Just fly over for Valentine's day and I’ll say it to your face, properly,” Danny says and disconnects the call.

Claude sits there for a moment, staring at Danny’s icon, which is a photo of him with the boys and tries to figure out how to react to the fact that Danny had just basically told Claude that he loves him.

In the end he decides to reply with equal dignity that Danny had used and sends a text:

‘You better get me 1st class tickets, asshole.’

After thinking about it a bit more he sends a second one: ‘Love you too’


End file.
